Maneuvering hospital patients in bed, especially those who are paralyzed, immobile, or obese, presents a challenge to caregivers. A patient's inability to move or turn in bed impedes the patient's care. For instance, hospital staff may have difficulty in accessing areas of the patient's body where it is necessary to administer treatment or tests, conduct inspections, or perform hygienic tasks. As a result, several hospital staff members are frequently required to physically lift, turn, or move the bedridden patient, to a certain position and hold the patient stable in that posture, so that the required action may be completed. Hospital staff are often over-worked and have numerous urgent tasks to handle within a limited period of time. Therefore, the diversion of personnel to assist in maneuvering a patient in bed for routine care is a wasteful and inefficient use of limited and valuable hospital resources.
Other patient-maneuvering devices are available in the market. For instance, Walker U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,793, discloses a device in which the patient is laid on a sheet with side sleeves through which poles are inserted. The sleeves contain a portal through which the pole can be grasped for one-handed movement of a patent. Two detachable lateral straps are connected to the sheet. The ends of the straps have connectors that enable the straps to be attached to a bed rail. Once a patient is moved to the desired position, the sheet can be detached from the straps and patient care rendered while the straps hold the patient in position. Walker relies on two straps and a sheet which covers the patient's body. This prevents patient care to those areas. Thus, if the patient has a wound, surgical incision, burn, catheter tube or other medical device in a particular area of his or her torso, the sheet contacts that area; this may cause pain, further injury, or dislodgement of the medical device. These issues preclude the use of the Walker invention in many cases.
What is needed in the art is a way for the medical staff to safely and securely maneuver and position a patient in bed with minimum exertion. What is further needed is a way to turn a patient while allowing extensive access to the patient's body for the rendering of care. This should ideally be accomplished without negatively affecting a patient's wounds, surgical incisions, and/or attached medical devices.